Nevada Supreme Court seats each draw three candidates

There will be a primary in both of the Supreme Court seats open this election cycle.

Three candidates have filed to fill the Supreme Court seat being vacated by retiring Justice Mark Gibbons. And Chief Justice Kris Pickering drew two opponents this week.

Judicial candidate filing opened Jan. 6 and closed at 5 p.m. Friday.

Gibbons announced plans to retire a year early saying he wanted to give those interested in succeeding him ample notice.

Veteran Clark County District Judge Douglas Herndon has filed. He was originally appointed to the bench by then-Gov. Kenny Guinn in 2005, retained in 2006 and elected to full six-year terms in 2008 and 2014.

Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo has also filed for that seat. He has served two terms in the Nevada Assembly representing District 21 in Las Vegas.

In addition, Erven Nelson filed for that post Thursday. He was a member of the Nevada Assembly form 2014-2016.

Chief Justice Kris Pickering filed Monday for a third six-year term on the high court. Pickering graduated from UNR as a National Merit Scholar and Presidential Scholar.

Thomas Christensen filed on Wednesday and Esther Rodriguez of Las Vegas filed Thursday. He is listed as a personal injury lawyer. She handles employment cases as well as personal injury.

Bonnie Bulla filed seeking a full term on the three-member Nevada Intermediate Court of Appeals. She was appointed to that post in February. She drew Susan Bush as an opponent on Friday. She filed in Las Vegas.

In the nine single and multi-county judicial districts outside of Clark and Washoe, most of the candidates were incumbent judges seeking re-election.

The first two to file as the judicial candidate filing period opened Monday were Carson District Judges Todd Russell and Jim Wilson. Both are seeking their third full term on the bench.

The Second Judicial District is Washoe County.

In Lyon County’s Third Judicial District, both incumbents have filed for re-election. They are John Schlegelmilch in department 1 and Leon Aberasturi in Department 2.

Aberasturi has been a district court judge since 2006 when he was elected to a partial term. He won the seat outright in 2008 and 2014.

Schlegelmilch is seeking his second six-year term on the Lyon County bench.

In Elko’s Fourth Judicial District, Judge Nancy Porter, an Elko native, is seeking another term. She was first appointed in 2011 and elected in 2012 and again in 2014. She is opposed by Kriston Hill.

In Department 2, Alvin Kacin is seeking a second full term as a district judge. As of Friday afternoon he was unopposed.

In the newly created Department 3, Mason Simons and John Muije are the two candidates

Kimberly Wanker filed for re-election as District Judge in the Fifth Judicial District representing Nye and Esmeralda counties. She was originally appointed to that post in 2011 and won election in 2014.

Robert Lane has filed for re-election to the second judicial department in the Fifth Judicial District. He was first elected to the bench in 2000.

Michael Montero was first elected to the bench in the Sixth Judicial District’s Department 1 in 2008. He is seeking his third full term as the lone district judge serving Humboldt County.

Steve Dobrescu is seeking a fourth term on the Seventh District Court bench which covers Eureka, White Pine and Lincoln counties. He was originally appointed in 2001.

Gary Fairman, the other judge in District Seven, is also running. He was appointed in 2013 and was unopposed in 2014. He is seeking his second full term in office.

The Eighth Judicial District is Clark County.

The Ninth Judicial District is in Douglas County. Both judges there are seeking re-election. Nathan Young was originally appointed in 2013 but won the seat in 2014. He is seeking his second full term.

Judge Tom Gregory in Department 2 is also running this cycle. He is seeking his first full six-year term in that post.

Judge Thomas Stockard is running for his second full term in the Tenth Judicial District. That district consists of Churchill County. He was originally appointed in 2012 and won a full term in 2014.

In the 11th Judicial District representing Lander, Pershing and Mineral counties, Jim Shirley is seeking re-election to his first full, six-year term. He was originally elected in the Sixth Judicial District in 2014 but was appointed to the 11th after the Legislature and Gov. Brian Sandoval created the district in 2015.

Including family court judges, there will be 90 district judges in Nevada following the November elections. All of the district judges run in the same election cycle while terms of Supreme Court justices are staggered.